I was planning on waiting to tell you all, however it has been forever since I posted and some might be wondering "why hasn't Peter posted all over Facebook lately???" ;) Well I have been really busy designing a new site which is clearly not done yet but, Lord willing, it will be posted soon! I was looking back at some of my old sites and it's very sobering seeing where I have come from. I wanted to publicly thank my Dad for always being a huge (point of sticking out) encouragement to me. Not to mention being a great editor at times, Lord knows I need it.

I would also like to thank many other people but can't list them all out here. So many wedding couples from last year have been so amazing to me. Thank you for everything from trusting me on your wedding day, to being kind and generous after the wedding. I cannot express how much power and encouragement that is to me to keep on going and improving. Also thank you to so many friends and family that always give me great feedback on my work, site, and even character ;)

A huge thanks to many of you other professional photographers that I look up to and call friends that have given me great advice and been there to talk about basic photography problems. Like when a client asks, "can't you just Photoshop his head off and make him smile?"

It is also humbling looking back at past work, knowing how far I have come. Also incredibly daunting when I look ahead because of how much further I have to go. I hope to keep God not just in my sights this year, but have him be my leader and provider. Trusting him to give me my daily bread and not worry about tomorrows!

DEATH BY A PHOTOGRAPHER

What would you do for that one shot? I am of course referring to photography “shot”. Not the traditional “shot at your dreams”. Well for the light-hearted photographer, probably not much. But for you die-hard photographers out there, (you know who you are) you would go through lengths to get that shot. Right?

Well I would. I would even go through the lengths of lying in a street, at twelve o’clock at night, new years day. Sounds crazy right? None sense, it was completely safe…or so I thought. Lying there with my eyes transfixed on the lens in front of me to get a self-portrait, I set the timer for five sec, with a ten sec shutter. *Click. The shutter opens and I stay still, very still, like looking at a motion bomb right in the eye, any movement and all is done for, the picture would be blurry. One second goes by. Then two. Followed by three. Then I hear a car behind me. Most of them turning the corner, I thought I would do the “risky business” and stay lying down taking my chances, you know not to mess up the shot. Four. Five. Eyes still transfixed on the lens I see headlights reflecting off the Nikon glass, like two cat eyes in the dark starring right back fearlessly into mine. Six. Heart pounding. Seven. Eight. *Honk*. I fly up, as if a bee just stung my butt. Grabbing my camera, move to the side. Nine. Ten. *Click*.

Then, after erecting myself up off the ground, I gave a hearty hello wave to the man in the van. He stared back, with a gaze of bewilderment, anger, caution, with a little shock mixed in the “drink of emotion”. I was “shaken, not stirred.”

Taking a deep breath, inhaling the sulfuric air from fireworks, mixed with a blanket of salty sweat from the humidity, I felt calm once more, just a little sick. Some might call me crazy. I might even call me crazy, but hey I got some cool shots. I even got one by mistake, but it took a near death experience to get it. I hope you like it.